COE Exchange

Archive for May, 2009

Every year, the E. Desmond Lee Technology and Learning Center of UM Saint Louis’ College of Education host the Digital Media Festival to encourage the creative use of digital media within the primary and secondary classroom setting to meet learning objectives.  DMF is designed to be an event that showcases and rewards strong DV or interactive media examples in education. It provides students and teachers in the St. Louis region with an authentic outlet for their work beyond their own school walls. Collected here are the winners, divided by category, of the 2009 DMF. Questions about the program can be…

Many Indonesian teachers in Pulomas, East Jakarta, are investigating the possibility of focusing more attention in the curriculum to issues of character education. There is a Character School on Jl. Raya Bogor, Depok, which focuses completely on character training. Teachers encourage students to identify their own interests and pursue learning about them. There is the Cikal School in Cilandak which seeks to involve parents in the schooling of their children along with community work and psychological strategies to foster character development. Executive Director Rahma Dewi, of the Character School complains public schools fail to focus on moral development of children.…

The economic slowdown is impacting young people throughout the world, particularly those who graduate in June, 2009. A group of high school students in Iceland decided to address the issue of jobs for graduates by developing a website for Icelandic high school students which features innovative ideas. It is also an online social network– frumkvaedi.is. The website allows students and potential employers to pitch ideas on projects that might lead to jobs for high school graduates. It is hoped that start up companies would examine ideas of students in hope some would lead to a possible commercial product or service.…

I entered James Monroe High School in the Bronx, New York in 1944 as World War II raged throughout the world. New York City had both three and four year high schools due to the existence of junior high schools which had three year programs. Elite high schools like Bronx High School of Science were four, but James Monroe only had grades 10 through 12. It was the largest high school in the world with about 12,000 students. Those of us who had been in the Rapid Advancement(RA) program were kept together in special classes. The tenth grade would identify…

In a previous posting I reviewed elementary school in the Bronx, New York fifty years ago. This essay will review life in secondary school during the Depression and World War II. I entered Junior High School 98 in 1942 and was placed in the Rapid Advance class. We were segregated from other students in special classes and most probably had access to among the best teachers in school. Herman Ridder Junior High School was an experimental institution which adhered to many ideas of John Dewey. All students, including Rapid Advanced students, had a half day of academic work and a…